“Be Ready To Work Hard”: Successful Sabré
This is a highlight of my travelling through motorsport series featuring women excelling in the W Series. This article was transferred from my Women Race website:
Reigning from Grand Junction, Colorado, Sabré Cook was born to race. She is a female racing driver, engineer and driving coach.
Growing up around American karting tracks, a love for motorsport was present from early on. Sabré recognised that she wanted to be a professional racing driver after winning her first TAG World Championship in Junior kart at the age of 13. Cook recalled,” It had been tough to start, but we overcame a lot to dominate the weekend. Then as I crossed the finish line...I was like wow this is something I could do for the rest of my life.“
Driven by passion and getting sponsorship, Sabré kicked off her car racing career at the age of 23. While earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines 2017. Taking on the challenge, Cook persevered and developed incredible critical and technical skills for racing. Her professional motorsport career began during the SCCA National Championships Runoffs at Indianapolis Motor Speedway finishing ninth in 2017. Cook then competed in the USF2000 placing 14th at Indianapolis and USFormula 4 placing 15th at Circuit of the Americas in 2018.
Soon enough, Sabré qualified as one of the 18 active racing drivers for the Formula 3 championship for women, W Series in 2019. The season was amazing as she finished in 12th place. Cook revealed, “For the W series, there’s a lot of good things. It’s a great environment. It’s a place where I can show up, drive and focus on my best performance. It’s bringing a lot of women together within the industry and that’s great to be a part of.”
Sabré working with Renault F1. Photo Credit: Renault F1.
As international experience is essential, Sabré ventured to Europe to compete at various tracks including the Hockenheimring, the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli and Nuremberg. In 2020, Sabré raced in the Indy Pro 2000 Championship as well. At Road America, she started in 11th place and worked her way up to finishing in 8th place. Apart from driving, Sabré is an Infiniti Engineering Academy alumnae which allowed her to work for Infiniti Global and the Renault F1 Team in 2019.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic changed the dynamic of racing schedules and paused the W Series season, Sabré is staying safe and managing well by staying busy, racing,coaching, and working as an engineer for Formula Mazda. Focusing on getting better at everything she does is what’s key. Other activities include physical activity, hiking, biking and always researching and testing new ways of self improvement and development.
Sabré with Amicus. Photo Credit: Sabré Cook.
When asked what do you enjoy most about racing, Sabré enthused, “It’s hard to explain. I love racing as it brings the mechanics, science, teamwork, business, sponsorship and everything together in one place. It puts me out of my comfort zone all of the time. It’s great to be continuously challenged.” Cook’s favourite track is her hometown karting track, Grand Junction Motor Speedway in Colorado, USA. Then for car racing tracks, Brands Hatch in Kent, England. Sabré described,” It’s because of the way that the circuit flows, and the way you grit your teeth, right to the edge of the track.” Her favourite cars that she’s driven include her W Series Tatuus T-318 F3 car, the Tatus PM-18 driven in the Indy Pro 2000 and a Porsche 991.2 racing car which she will be racing in the Porsche Sprint Cup Challenge in April.
Sabré believes that the progress of women in motorsport is great. Cook noted, “the W Series has broken open the gates for growth and increased interest for women in the sport.. It’s amazing to inspire people to get involved, but to improve further, it’s necessary for consistent growth every year.”
Continuing our conversation, Sabré expressed, “It must come from the overarching idea that more women need to be engaged, involved and exercise their spending power. We need to see more women invest, feel empowered, and in turn support other women.. It’s important to have women put in CEO roles and invest in women’s sports. Every year, billions of dollars go into sports and only a fraction of it goes to women’s sports.”
Cook’s primary focus for the future is IndyCar racing. Later on, she aims to become lead race engineer in Formula 1 or IndyCar. Also, Sabré is passionate about starting a charity for veterans as they have sacrificed so much for the country and wishes that much more could be done for them.
A motto that Sabré lives by is, “if you never fail, you never succeed.” It’s what her Dad taught her from a young age. The idea that you create your own reality, it’s what you put into it and as long as you’re doing the best of what you can, that’s what’s important. Sabré’s role models include Mom and Dad who taught her dedication, hard work, treating people with respect and how to be loyal.
Now at 26, Sabré Cook said, “The advice that I would give to those aspiring to work in motorsport is be ready to work hard, put your best foot forward and don’t be afraid to ask questions. Also don’t let other people’s ideals or perceptions of what a woman may or may not be able to do limit your abilities.” It’s important to not limit ourselves and give it our best as there’s so much that all of us can accomplish in life.